Reports for yesterday and today are being posted on the Durham bird Club Forum concerning a scatter of 34 dead birds being picked up in just a 2 mile sample section of coast from Roker (N. Sunderland) to Whitburn. Along the Durham coast as a whole the picture could involve many hundreds.
Apart from a couple of Gulls (1 Bl. headed and 1 Common) these were all wader species, comprising 18 Redshanks, 6 Golden plovers, several each of Lapwings, Ringed Plovers and Woodcocks with sev. unidentified.
Presumably these fatalities are due to the combination of 2 weeks of deep snow cover and plunging temperatures sufficient to freeze beaches, ironically close to a private area of pasture (in fact an army firing range)and adjoining arable land just yards inland from the coast where several thousand Golden Plover (as just one example) normally gather and feed pretty well through "normal" winters.

While many of us can and do hang out feeders for passerines and grain/ bread for whatever wants it, (we now have an increasing gang of pheasants coming to the door each day and some tapping on the windows for attention), it appears the needs of waders present a real problem in the conditions as described and in a practical sense may be beyond help?